Club Med

History

Foundation

The club was founded in 1950 by Belgian entrepreneur Gérard Blitz. Blitz had opened a low-priced summer colony of tents on the Spanish island of Majorca, followed by another on the island of Djerba (Tunisia). A better entertainer than businessman, Blitz went bankrupt in 1953. His main creditor was his tent supplier Gilbert Trigano, the French "King of Camping"; Trigano took control of the club and slowly pushed Blitz aside. The first official Club Med was built the next year in Palinuro, Salerno, Italy. The original villages were simple: members stayed in unlit straw huts on a beachfront, sharing communal washing facilities. Such villages have been replaced with modern blocks or huts with ensuite facilities.

Expansion

Because of reckless spending, the club was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1961. It was saved by the 35-year-old Baron Edmond de Rothschild after he had visited a resort and enjoyed his stay. With Rothschild financing, the number of villages increased greatly under Trigano's leadership from 1963 to 1993. Winter villages, providing skiing and winter sports tuition, were introduced in 1956 at Leysin, Switzerland. In 1965, the first club outside the Mediterranean was opened in Tahiti. Club Med broadened its reach by opening villages in the French Caribbean (Guadeloupe and Martinique). Originally attracting mainly singles and young couples, the club later became primarily a destination for families, with the first Mini Club opening in 1967.

Club Méditerranée S.A. had a branch in the USA named Club Méditerranée Inc, with several partners including Crédit Lyonnais and American Express. In 1974, upon his arrival as the new CEO of the club for North America, Jean Lallement, one of the first members of the club and responsible for its large presence in Italy, hired as marketing manager the French HEC Jacques Bacon, who made the club a huge success within 3 years through an aggressive and very efficient promotion; it was he who suggested the name Club Med. The new name was at that time reserved to the North American market, but later became the name of the mother company as well.

In the early 1970s the club had bought from its owner Claude Lelouche the famous revolutionary three-mast sailing boat Vendredi 13, installed 4 berths and a bath-room, and based it at the Buccaneer's Creek village in Martinique for one to several days cruises. This turn out to be a big success. As a result, in 1976, the club acquired the big sailing boat built by solo sailor Alain Colas, who had just lost the Solo Transatlantic Race Plymouth-Newport to Eric Tabarly. The boat was renamed Club Méditerranée and based in Martinique for 2-3-day cruises. Another success, so, the club built a second one, a monster named Club Med 2. The club has also ceased to be a club in the legal sense, changing from a not-for-profit association to a for-profit public limited company (French SA) in 1995. However, each new customer is still charged a membership fee upon joining, and returning customers are charged an annual fee as well.

Diversification

In the 1990s, the club's fortunes declined as competitors copied its concepts and holidaymakers demanded more sophisticated offerings. Management was also criticised for overbuilding, selecting unsuitable locations and understaffing. In 1997, the shareholders dismissed the Triganos and replaced them with Philippe Bourguignon, former CEO of Novotel USA. Bourguignon aimed to change the club "from a holiday village company to a services company". The club took over a chain of French gyms, launched bar/restaurant complexes known as Club Med World in Paris and Montreal, and commenced a budget resort concept aimed at young adults. Oyyo was the first such resort, opened at Monastir in Tunisia. Thirteen new villages were planned for the new century.

Relaunch

The change in strategy was not successful, and the club fell into a deep loss following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the U.S. In 2002, a new CEO, Henri Giscard d'Estaing, son of the former French President, was appointed. His strategy was to refocus on the holiday villages and attract upmarket vacationers. Club Med World Montreal and many villages, particularly those in North America or with more basic facilities, were closed. The club returned to profitability in 2005.

In 2004, the hotel group Accor became the largest shareholder, but it sold most of its stake in 2006, announcing that it wished to refocus on its core businesses. From 2001 onward, the resort company worked to rebrand itself as upscale and family-oriented.

In 2006 and 2007, Club Med and its partners dedicated a total of $530 million to renovate several resorts.

Acquisition

In February 2015, Fosun International Ltd.'s Gaillon Invest II and The Silverfern Group finalized a takeover deal of Club Méditerranée S.A. The acquisition culminated a bidding war that began in May 2013, which was conducted by Gaillon, a special investment vehicle used by Fosun, to execute its bidding for Club Med. The two-year-long war boosted the price of the company from the initial €541 million "friendly bid" in 2013 up to the final sale price of €939 million ($1.07 billion). Gaillon Invest's chairman, Jiannong Qian, believes that Chinese ownership of the company is crucial to tap into China's huge population of potential tourists. Following the takeover, Chairman and President of Club Méditerranée SA, Henri Giscard d'Estaing, was named President of Club Med SAS.

In popular culture

In Jean-Luc Godard's La Chinoise (1967), the character Guillaume (Jean-Pierre Léaud) talks about his father who had fought Germans in the war, now ran Club Med resort working along the lines of concentration camps.

The phrase "Club Med- a cheap holiday in other people's misery" appeared as a Situationist slogan, written in graffiti in Paris, May 1968. The phrase was described as a commentary on alienation, domination, and "the false promises of modern life". The slogan was later given a nod to in the opening lyrics of the Sex Pistols song "Holidays in the Sun".{{cite book

The Club Med style of vacation was satirized in the 1978 film, Les bronzés (released in English as French Fried Vacation) directed by Patrice Leconte. Sequels Les Bronzés font du ski and Les Bronzés – Amis pour la Vie were released in 1979 and 2006 respectively.

The 1983 film Copper Mountain: A Club Med Experience, starring Jim Carrey and Alan Thicke, is a quasi-commercial for the now-closed Club Med village in the U.S. ski resort at Copper Mountain, Colorado.

On the 1985 album Telephone Free Landslide Victory by the band Camper Van Beethoven is the song "Club Med Sucks"

The 1986 ABC TV movie Club Med stars Jack Scalia and Linda Hamilton as a Club Med manager and guest, respectively, who fall in love.

In 2004, a Korean TV drama broadcast by MBC titled First Love of a Royal Prince was filmed in Club Med Bali, Sahoro, and Bora Bora. In the drama, the main actress, Sung Yu-ri, played Kim Yu Bin, a GO.

Within the United States, minimum security prisons can be referred to as Club Fed.

In 2004, the American comedy team Broken Lizard released a comedy slasher film named Club Dread. In the movie, a paradise resort for young people full of sex, drugs and rock and roll becomes the target of a deranged killer.

Properties

This is the list of current and future Club Med properties:

Ships

Current ships

Former ships

Controversies

The Panhellenic Federation of Employees in Hospitality and Tourism, Athens, Greece, has made serious official complaints of widespread employer misconduct, targeting Club Med Gregolimano, Euboea, Greece. Also as well the Euboea Workers' Center, Euboea, sent a letter of complaint to the competent labour Greek inspectorates authorities, conveying reports from the Employees' Association at the Club Med Gregolimano company in Euboea regarding working conditions at the Club Med Gregolimano resort. The list of complaints have been submitted at Hellenic Parliament calling for immediate action from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Some official complains from them are:

• Club Med Gregolimano is violating the Sectoral Collective Labour Agreement for hotel employees and Greek labour legislation.
• Problems with staff transportation by bus, with concerns raised about safety and overcrowding.
• Performing duties beyond employee's area of contracted working duties due to staff shortages.
• Inadequate air conditioning in indoor areas such as the kitchen dishwashing working space.
• Delays in employees leaving the workplace after recording their departure.
• Shortcomings in changing room infrastructure.
• Issues with agency contracting companies that employ staff, such as non-payment of final payroll, incomplete registration of social security subscriptions, failure to provide contracts, and salary remuneration lower than that provided by Greek collective labour agreements, and others.

References

References

1. "Our Story - Club Med".
2. Michelson, Marcel. "The Battle For Tourism Firm Club Med, Sharks Or Saviors?". [[Forbes]].
3. "Club Med & Skift Present: The Evolution of the All-Inclusive Resort".
4. Faith, Nicholas. (4 November 1997). "Obituary: Baron Edmond de Rothschild". [[The Independent]].
5. (2001-02-05). "France - Décès de Gilbert Trigano, fondateur du Club Méditerranée". [[L'Orient-Le Jour]].
6. Qubein, Ramsey. (2022-10-22). "Club Med Expands With More Upscale Resorts And Sustainability Focus". Forbes.
7. Ricardou, François-Xavier. (23 November 2022). "Club Méditerranée: the crazy bet of a 72m sailboat for a single man".
8. Harper, Sam. (2022-04-25). "Fear and Loathing at Club Med: Workers Describe Bizarre Working Conditions at Exclusive Québec Resort".
9. Lee, Venessa. (5 June 2017). "President of Club Med reveals how he turned around a failing business".
10. "Accor Divests Most of Its Stake in Club Méditerranée".
11. Pimsleur, Julia. (2023-01-15). "Reinventing a 50-Year-Old Brand: Lessons From Le Club Med". [[Forbes]].
12. Mariano, Kristin. (2023-03-24). "Club Med unveils first total rebrand in almost a decade". Travel Daily Media (TDM).
13. Qubein, Ramsey. (2025-07-27). "Club Med Turns 75, Pivots To Upscale And Grows Mountain Resorts". [[Forbes]].
14. Ward, Terry. (2021-12-16). "Everything You Didn’t Know You Wanted to Know About Club Med". [[Fodor's]].
15. (2015-02-13). "The Silverfern Group invests in Club Méditerranée S.A., a leading global hotel and resort operator". The Silverfern Group.
16. (2015-02-11). "China's Fosun wins bidding for Club Med after two years". [[BBC News]].
17. (12 February 2015). "Fosun's Gaillon Seals Long-Fought Deal For Club Med". Law 360.
18. "Club Med: Resorts, Villas & Chalets, Cruises". Club Med.
19. "Club Med: All-Inclusive Destinations". Club Med.
20. Preske, Elizabeth. (2024-09-11). "17 New All-Inclusive Club Med Resorts".
21. "Panhellenic Federation of Employees in Hospitality and Tourism (POEET)".
22. (2025-07-10). "Employee complaints about heatwave days at Club Med Gregolimano, Euboea, Greece".
23. (2015-08-20). "Complaints about labour violations at accommodations in Euboea, Greece".
24. (2025-07-10). "Complaints by the Evia Labour Center regarding working conditions at the company Club Med Gregolimano, Euboea, Greece".
25. (2025-07-11). "Hellenic Parliament: The Appalling Working Conditions at Club Med Gregolimano, Euboea, Greece".